In Your Arms
by evelinaonline
Summary: Sometimes, all friends need to feel better is a hug. But what happens when that hug becomes an obvious sign of something more? [Bruiseshipping, Jay x Cole] [Collab with FropessionalWriter!]


**Alright! Before you start reading, I'd like to let you know that this is a collab between my friend Peri (FropessionalWriter95) and I!**

 **We wrote two one-shots in total, and the other is on her account, so be sure to check it out! It's called 'Losing You'!**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Although it was impossible to believe, it was true: Master Wu was gone. Needless to say, the ninja did not take it well.

They had been through so much together. He was the person that brought the team together, after all. He was the one that trained them, guided them and helped them, but most importantly, he gave them a family.

Before they were found, each one of the ninja was going through a difficult part of their life. Kai and Nya were having a hard time running their family's blacksmith shop on their own, struggling to live without a steady income

Cole had run away from his school and family and was challenging himself by climbing Ninjago's highest mountains to deal with his mother's loss.

Jay was lost in life and didn't know what to do. Alone as he was, he was desperately trying to invent something useful for the rest of the world.

Zane was clueless of who he really was and was spending his days meditating, helplessly trying to remember something about himself.

And Lloyd was left alone at a boarding school, without a family, left to believe he was meant to follow his evil father's footsteps.

If it hadn't been for him, the ninja would have never found a purpose in their lives. They would have never met each other and would have never become a family. Wu was part of that family, the very core of it, and they had lost him.

They had to find him. Even if that meant creating a time vortex of their own. Without the timeblades though, that wasn't possible.

The wait was only driving them more desperate.

The ninja were lost. The whole situation had caused them to drift apart. Mornings in the Temple of Airjitzu were awfully quiet, and usually, it was one of the most lousy parts of the day.

Not even Jay cracked jokes anymore, and when he did, all he earned were the saddened smiles of his friends. He couldn't blame them; he understood what they were going through. It still hurt sometimes though.

He would have never imagined that one of those jokes would change his life completely.

He was with Cole at the living room, and both of them were thinking of their own problems, not paying attention to one another. Jay decided to crack the ice by commenting about the silence.

Cole rolled his eyes, chuckling. It was unbelievable how Jay could cheer him up so quickly. He couldn't remember what the joke was about, but he remembered how much Jay wanted to get him to feel better very clearly.

The black ninja patted Jay's back, pulling him into a side hug. "You're an idiot, you know that?" he had said jokingly.

In other circumstances, Jay would have been pissed. But he thought of the smile Cole had given him before. Cole had smiled, genuinely smiled, for the first time in weeks. Jay had forgotten how much he missed the curve on his lips.

Without thinking much about it, Jay turned around to face the black ninja, wrapping his arms around him. Cole didn't know how to react at first, but he hesitantly hugged his best friend back.

Cole couldn't believe himself when he closed his eyes and rested his chin on Jay's head. The smell of his hair almost made Cole smile again. It was funny how Jay still used kids' shampoo simply because he liked the bubble gum aroma of it.

The feeling caused Cole's heart to beat louder, and Jay could hear all of it. The sound was so comforting it entrapped Jay in his friend's arms. It was almost as if Cole's heart was singing to him.

There was no gap between their bodies. It was the first time they had been that close.

They stayed like that for what felt like centuries, losing sense of time. It was only when they were called for dinner that they pulled away.

None of them dared to speak of what happened, not even to each other.

With all the ninja deeply hurt by Master Wu's disappearance, the two ninja assumed that the reason behind their interaction was their need for comfort.

But then it happened again.

And again.

And again.

It was clear there was more to it than that.

The two of them were currently sitting in Jay's room, each occupied with their own thing. Jay was hooked on his video games while Cole, on the other hand, was away from reality and sucked into his drawings.

None of them were expecting what happened… to end up happening during their free time. It all happened so fast, they were nearly lost in confusion.

Jay was doing so well on his match. He was dominating every round, every opponent. Nothing could stop him, he was _on a roll._ He had crowned himself the ultimate winner -

That was until he _lost._

Jay couldn't have been more furious. He had lost because of one misstep in his footing. Who knew such a tiny thing could cost him his title of king? He stared at the screen in defeat and held his breath for a couple of seconds, wondering if Cole had noticed. Looking to his right, he caught Cole still focused on whatever he was doodling in his sketchbook.

In the end, Jay tried to shrug it off and he shut off the power, tossing his control to the side.

Cole finally looked up from his sketchbook when Jay plopped down on the couch beside him, not a single peep leaving his mouth.

At first, Cole gazed around the quiet room, having not realized that the game was turned off. Then, he looked back to Jay who sat still on the cushions.

It was unsual for Jay to quit a game just like that. And it was certainly just as odd when Jay kept the silence in the room.

Then, the unspeakable happened.

Cole hadn't realized that he had put down his sketchbook until his arms were wrapped around Jay's smaller body. And Jay, on the other hand, had not been aware of anything until _his_ arms were squeezing Cole in return.

It just _happened_.

They had been staring at each other through the deafening silence, gaining more from reading each other's eyes and expressions rather than through words. Those thoughts took over one another and they only began to lean closer. It was like they were yearning for another hug. The hugs they had been sharing for the past weeks.

The hug that demolished all worries.

The hug that spoke for itself.

 _The_ hug.

This time, Jay felt like he was in the world's most safest place. It was as if being in Cole's arms was a way of warding off all the bad.

A smile painted his face and he shut his eyes slowly when Cole hugged him tighter. At that moment, Jay was literally trapped, his entire upper body, flush against Cole, his ear pressed against his friend's strong chest. Soon, the black ninja's face found its way into Jay's fluffy hair and they stayed that way, having found the perfect position.

The blue clad eased some more, almost feeling like dead weight to Cole.

And normally, a silence held for so long would have made things feel awkward, but it allowed for Jay to hear something he couldn't normally hear. Something he hardly got the chance to listen to: a hearbeat. _Cole's_ heartbeat.

It was like a hypnotizing rhythm that could put him to sleep. And it was beating in sync with _his_ heartbeat.

If only they could stay this way forever.

"Jay…"

Cole's voice caught him by surprise. He hadn't expected the quiet to be broken so easily, and he sure hadn't expected to hear his name being called. It was the first thing to have been said for almost an hour.

Refusing to move, Jay only replied with a soft 'yes'.

"Jay," Cole said again, and Jay could sense a tenseness in his voice. "As much as I love this… hugging thing... " he went on. Jay heard a 'but' coming up in the sentence.

"We have to talk about this."

A sigh escaped his lips when Cole pulled away gently from him, noticing the saddened look on his face.

"Why are we doing this?" His dark haired friend suddenly asked, striking Jay with question.

He had never thought about that before.

Hugging had just became a daily basis thing… no one ever bothered to question about it until now.

"It's… nice, I guess," he suggested.

Cole stared at Jay with fear that he had hurt his feelings. Quickly, he spoke back. "I'm not… saying that it's a bad thing," Jay nodded shyly, "It's just… we've been doing this for… who knows how long it's been. Since when did best friends just hug out of the blue on a daily basis without reasoning?"

Jay agreed silently with everything Cole was saying.

"This isn't something 'just friends' do, Jay." The black ninja admitted finally.

"It's… It's not, yeah." Jay chuckled softly, attempting to shrug their current predicament off. "Why do _you_ do it, then?"

Cole was surprised when Jay asked him such a question. He had always thought about why he enjoyed the hugs they shared and why he leaned into them without hesitation, but he never thought the day would come where he'd have to explain why. It was all in his head, where all his secrets and thoughts were safe and secure.

But then he remembered, _he_ felt safe and secure when he was embracing Jay in a warm hug.

"Well, for starters… you're so small, it's real nice to just hold you… you know?" Cole joked, running a shaky hand through his hair so that Jay wouldn't notice. "Kinda like when you hug your pillow, right?" He cracked a teasing grin and waited for Jay to snap back.

As suspected, Jay did, and he tossed a light punch at Cole's shoulder playfully, flushing with embarrassment. "Well, I guess then, I like it _because_ I'm so small. Who doesn't love to be held, right?"

The two friends broke into laughter, enjoying this moment to its fullest.

As they laughed, Jay's eyes caught Cole's bright and happy smile, and he couldn't help but feel as if he had accomplished the most important task in his book.

Seeing Cole smile, having a real, enthusiastic, smile, made him feel like the two of them was all that mattered in the world.

And if the two of them was all that mattered, then…

The lightning ninja's smile disappeared from his face. "And it's because… I like you."

Cole raised an eyebrow. Of course Jay liked him; They were friends- _Best_ friends. "I like you too, Ja-"

"No, Cole." Jay interrupted him. "I _like_ you, like you. More than… How much you like me." he chuckled nervously under his breath.

Just a few seconds ago, Jay was daydreaming to Cole's smile - his beautiful wide smile - and now, he was being haunted by the very same face.

The confused expression Cole wore made Jay's heart beat faster- way faster than Cole's heartbeat. The lack of an answer, the _anticipation_ \- it was killing Jay.

"Nevermind the last part." Jay spoke up again. "You like me more than I like you. Because you like me as a friend, and I like you as a friend too, so everything is fine. We can just go on with our lives and… And…"

Jay did his best not to weep. If he did, he would want someone to comfort him, and Cole _wouldn't_ want to comfort him, and what would Jay have after that? Nothing, he would have nothing, and no one and-

"Of course I like you more than you like me, Zaptrap." Cole placed an hand on Jay's shoulder. "But that's only because you said that you like me."

Jay couldn't look up. He was frozen in place. He was too _scared_ to look up at Cole.

"I don't _just_ like you…" Cole mumbled, hesitant to continue. "I love you."

It was as if Cole's warmth had melted away Jay's worries. He managed to break free of his anxiety's grasp and face the earth ninja, the same smile from before decorating his face.

There was nothing holding him back from enjoying it this time.

Jay bursted into both tears and laughter at the same time. He launched himself into Cole's arms, knowing that there was no holding anything back from that moment and forward.

The moment he became a ninja, Jay's life turned upside down. He couldn't tell for sure whether that was a bad thing or a good thing.

On one hand, his struggles had doubled - losing fights, losing people, losing his friends, losing his family…

But on the other, the sun had never looked brighter. He actually had friends, who later became his family. Jay felt loved for the first time in years.

Jay looked up at Cole's upbeat smile once again, up at his purely filled with love expression. The way Cole was stroking Jay's messy hair, the way he was holding him in his arms, it all made Jay's heart beam.

No other kind of happiness could compare to the one Jay was feeling.

And _that_ was all that mattered.

* * *

 ***In the tune of Can You Feel The Love Tonight* Coooole and Jayyyy are soooo in looooove!**

 **If you like this one-shot, you're gonna love the one on Peri's account. It's my personal favourite, out of the two :3**

 **As mentioned above, you can find it on Peri's account (** **FropessionalWriter95) under the name of 'Losing You'!.**

 **And while you're at it, why not check out some more of her work? She is currently working on a fic called He Came To Get Me, which is also bruise!**

 **Anyway, thank you so much for reading, don't forget to check Peri's account out, as well as the second one-shot we wrote together, and I hope you enjoyed!**


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